All right Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 1. I want you to just notice the first three words in verse number 1
The Bible says a good name
It says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold
and I want you guys to focus on this little phrase here a good name and
When the Bible uses this this phrase a good name
It's not talking about the fact that somebody has a good name as
Opposed to like their name is cool as opposed to a name. That's not cool, right?
It's not like we're it's not referring to like oh his name is Jason versus Leonard or something
You know when it says a good name, it's actually referring to the reputation that you have. So
The word reputation just for definition for you guys. It means a widespread belief or
Opinions that are generally held about someone or
Something so your reputation when the Bible refers to a good name is talking about
How you are known the way you are known
It's referring to what people think when they think of you and the Bible tells us that everybody has a name
Whether you have a good name or a bad name that's up to you. And again, it's not about your name
It's about your reputation. It's about the widespread belief or opinions that people have in regards to you
So I want to just speak to you just real quickly
Just give you a few thoughts on this idea of a good name
All right. So number one a good name according to the Bible is valuable. There's value and having a good name
That's why if you look there at Proverbs 22 verse 1 it says a good name is
Rather to be chosen than great riches
The Bible says if you could choose between great riches or a good name
It would be better for you to choose a good name in
Ecclesiastes chapter 7 if you guys are there in Proverbs, you can just turn over one book to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and look at verse number 1
Ecclesiastes chapter 7 in verse 1 says this
Ecclesiastes 7 1 says a good name is better than precious ointment
And the day of death than the day of one's birth
So here we're told that a good name is better than precious ointment now, you know
Why is it that a good name is valuable? Why is it that you would want to have a good name?
There's lots of ways we could answer that and there's lots of illustrations I could use but you know specifically since this is for a teen
Activity I wanted to really apply it to the teenagers, you know
Why is it that you it's in your best interest to have a good name to maintain a good name and the reason for a teenager
that it's important for you to have a good name or I should say the reason you would maybe be
Motivated to have a good name is because your name your reputation is
Closely tied to this idea of trust now usually teenagers you guys are in this awkward stage, right?
I mean look at you. You're obviously awkward and you're in this awkward stage where you're not a child. You're not a kid
But you're not an adult yet, you're just kind of somewhere in between
you're transitioning from childhood to adulthood and we call that phase the teen years and
Usually during these years. There's something that teenagers really want now usually parents and if they're good parents
They're gonna do this they're gonna do this for you
But they're gonna do it gradually and they're gonna do it slowly and it is give you independence give you freedom
Now obviously if you're a young teenager
13 years old 14 years old
You're gonna have a lot less freedom then as you become an older teenager 18 years old 19 years old
But usually between the ages of 13 to 19
What your parents are gonna start doing is they're gonna gradually start giving you freedom. They're gonna start giving you liberty
They're gonna start giving you independence now. They're never gonna give you full freedom
Until the day you get married
but they're gonna start giving you some liberty in your life and that liberty will usually be connected to
Trust and I'll just let you guys in on a little secret the more because it's what teenagers want
They want liberty right, but you will get more liberty the more trustworthy you are
The more your parents can trust you the older you get the more they will give you
Liberty as you get older and the really quick way of just losing all liberty losing all freedom
Having not your parents, you know
Not being able to allow you any any sort of independence as you get older is to is for you to lose their trust
So the value in a good name is because your name is your reputation
Your name is what you're known for your name is what people think when they hear your name
When your parents think of you, what do they think? And if they think there's a young man
There's a young lady that I can trust that's in your best interest because as you get older not quickly but gradually and slowly
You will be given
Independence you will be given freedom in connection and in relation to trust and often
often
People don't realize especially kids teenagers don't realize the value in a reputation or the value and trust until you lose it
See some of you have already been given some some
Trust by your parents some independent and you don't even realize it
But you will realize it when you do something
To break that trust and when they pull back the reins all of a sudden you'll realize wait a minute
I liked it better the other way. I liked it better when they trusted me
So your name is connected to trust a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches because a good name is
Valuable now you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter 7
I want you to look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10 just real quickly and let me just say this number one a
Good name is valuable. Why because your your name is your reputation
Hopefully you've earned the reputation of trust the more trust you have the more trust your parents have in you
The more they will give you independence obviously slowly gradually as you get older
but let me say this number two a good name is fragile a
Good name is fragile the word fragile means or the idea of something being fragile is that it can be broken easily
It can be destroyed easily
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 1 says this dead flies caused the ointment of the apothecary
To send forth a stinking savor and I want you to notice these words. So does a little folly
Him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. I want you to notice that here
Solomon is giving us this ancient illustration and maybe it's not something that we necessarily would would think of today
But he said dead flies caused the ointment of the apothecary to send for the stinking saver now
I don't want to get into a lot of details about this, but I'll just explain this real quickly
The apothecary is an ointment that is supposed to produce a nice smell
It would be like you and I might think of like a perfume or a cologne some sort of a liquid
that is supposed to give off a good scent and
Solomon says that these little flies these dead flies that get caught in that ointment
They can cause something that used to smell good to now not smell good
It can it says that they can send forth a stinking saver then he says this
So does a little folly
The word folly means foolishness. It means something that's stupid something that's not smart something that wasn't thought through
He says just a little folly
can destroy
him that is in
Reputation for wisdom and honor. So look you can be a young person who has a
Reputation of having wisdom and honor you can be a young person who your parents trust. They say man. I trust my
my son, I trust my
Daughter, you might have that reputation with your pastor with your pastor's wife with other adults and people that lead you in ministry
But the Bible says you might have that all with that that reputation of wisdom and honor and it says just a little folly
Just a little folly can destroy it. You can destroy your reputation easily. A good name is fragile
So, please understand this and I'm trying to help you because remember what do all teens want they want freedom, right?
And that's what you're working towards one day. You're gonna become an adult. You're gonna get married. You're gonna be on your own
You're gonna be having your own household and we're trying to train you I tell I try to teach parents all the time
We're not raising children. We're raising adults. We're raising children and teenagers to be adults
You want freedom and I'll let you in a little secret your parents want freedom from you, too
Eventually, they want to be able to send you off while you're on your way, but they have to be able to trust you
that trust is connected to your
Reputation your good name is valuable, but your good name is also
Fragile it doesn't take much just a little folly. It doesn't take much just one text message
One text message where you say something stupid that you shouldn't have said
One email you send with something inappropriate in it one note you write that you regret
one bad phone call you make
One dumb decision to go somewhere. You should not have gone to meet someone
You should not have met to sneak out or to sneak around
I mean just one bad website you view one bad image
You look at one wrong movie you watch one bad song you listen to it all
It's just a little folly
One moment when you're not thinking about the consequences of the decisions
You're making can destroy all sorts of years of a reputation of wisdom and honor
Where your parents and your pastor and your grandparents and the people around you would have said there is a young person
I trust there is a young person with some honor. There's a young person with some character one
Decision can destroy that now it doesn't destroy it for good, but it takes away that trust which is the thing that you so
want as a
Future adult right you want to be trusted you want to have freedom you want to have Liberty
We want to give it to you gradually and slowly as you get older, but it's connected to your
Reputation it's your name so a good name number one is valuable a good name number two is
Fragile it doesn't take much. It doesn't take much just being part of one. You know social media
Conversation just being one you know one bad conversation in the back one bad action in the parking lot
It doesn't take much to ruin your desk your reputation and to destroy all the trust
Just a little falling and I'll say this it's easier to destroy your reputation than to build it
It's easier to destroy your reputation than to build it back once it's been destroyed
so a good name is valuable a good name is fragile, and then I'll say this a
good name is worth building and
Protecting a good name is worth building and protecting Proverbs chapter 20 if you would verse 11
Ecclesiastes just turned back to Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 11
Proverbs 20 and verse 11 says this even a child is
known by his doings
Whether his work be pure or whether it be right the Bible says that even children have a reputation
Even children are known for being obedient or disobedient good or bad
Teenagers have a reputation adults have a reputation and here's the interesting thing
Having
A good reputation doesn't take much
You're kind of given one by default if you're just not a brat as a kid
Usually people just assume you're gonna be a good teenager
then
Keeping that reputation is fragile you can destroy it, but once you destroy it it takes a lot to rebuild it
So it's given to you pretty easily. It's taken away pretty easily, and it's built back
Difficult it's built back with a lot of work with a lot of effort so instead of losing your reputation
Realizing wait a minute now. I'm being treated like a child again. I don't like this
Let me rebuild that trust instead of going through that process
You know what be easier is to just take the reputation that you probably already have that's a good reputation and just protect it
Just keep it
Safe a good name is valuable. It's fragile, and it's worth protecting
So here's what you want to be known as if you want freedom
Which I think all of you at some point do obviously if you're 13 or 14
You're not gonna have a lot of freedom, but as you become older 17 18 19 20 years old you you start dating when you're
20 years old and you you know marry when you're past 20 years old and you establish a family
The key number is 20 years old
You know as you do those things as you get that in that that you're gonna get that
Freedom if you have a good name that we can trust so here's what you want your name to be known for you want
to be known for integrity
You want to be known for character?
You want to be known for honesty?
You want to be known for maturity you want to be known for self-control?
You want to be known for spirituality?
Integrity means you do the right thing even when nobody's looking you do the right thing even when your parents are looking or when you
Don't think your parents are looking because the truth is they probably are looking
Character means that you have a set of morals of values
That have defined you that you're now longer a child because the difference between an adult and a child
Is that a child has to do what his parents tell them to do an adult does what they choose to do?
And you want to begin to develop that to have some character to have some values to say I don't go to church
Just cuz my parents may go to church. I go to church cuz I want to go to church now of course
I go to church with my parents
But I want to I read the Bible because I want to read Bible I will solely because I want to be a soul
winner you want to be known for honesty you want to be known as a kid that even when you're in trouble you'll tell the
Truth even if it means that you're gonna get in trouble because you have that character you want to be known as someone who's mature
Not immature someone who has self-control not is out of control someone who is spiritual not
Carnal because even a child is known
By his doings and you want to protect your name
You want to protect your name, and here's the thing here's the interesting thing about a reputation is that you?
Can have someone else destroy your reputation?
You can have somebody else you can say well
I was just there I wasn't doing and your name gets drugged through the mud and gets destroyed
She said well, how do I protect my reputation? Well don't allow people to put you in compromising positions?
Don't allow people to put you in situations where you're gonna lose your reputation
If you have other kids or other people doing stupid things around you walk away
Say I'm not a part of that delete that account get away from that and say you're not worth my reputation
Because I want to be trusted because I'm becoming an adult
Because I want to have some freedom and that's connected to my trust and that's connected to my name
And I can't let your foolishness mess that up
so don't allow people to put your in compromising positions and make sure you always do right and
You always look like you're doing right
I don't know if that makes sense and sometimes you say that to people and people think like well
Does it matter if I look like I'm doing right as long as I'm doing right?
Here's what the Bible says first Thessalonians 5 22 abstain from all appearance of evil
Now obviously if God wants you to abstain from the appearance of evil
Then God obviously wants you to abstain from evil that goes without saying but God takes it further
He doesn't say just abstain from evil. He says abstain from all appearance of evil. He says don't even look
Like you're doing something you shouldn't be doing now
Why would somebody be concerned when my when miss Joanne and I were teenagers we were in a
Teen group at our church a tea and you know
We went to teen activities and things like that as well
And I remember our youth pastor which we don't really have a youth pastor and we don't have that type of ministry here
But we had a youth pastor the church we went to and he would often tell the story about these teenagers who?
Were having this special
Thing it was connected to church
It was this ministry where they went out to a nice restaurant and they all
Wrote in this limousine and they were having this fun night and they'd won something and it was kind of the reward
It was just kids from church
But when they were in that limousine they were taking pictures and they all had out these wine cups and they had
apple
Cider in those cups and they were just kids. They weren't drinking alcohol
They weren't doing anything bad, but they took all these pictures and he took those pictures and he said now
What does this look like?
Said I know you guys weren't drinking alcohol
But you know what this looks like five years from now when somebody sees these pictures this looks bad
Nobody knows they see you with these cups
They see you in these nice clothes and a limousine with these cups with this liquid in it
And he taught them a lesson about abstaining from the appearance of evil and you say well, that's a little paranoid
But here's the thing when you realize how valuable your reputation is
You'll take the steps to not only abstain from evil
But also abstain from the appearance of evil so here's the lesson for tonight
You want a good name?
Because you want to be trusted. Here's what I know about you and you might not know this yourself
But you'll know it once you lose it. You want to be trusted by your parents
You want your parents to be able to entrust you with freedom?
You might not realize it but I can promise you this when you lose that trust you'll realize it
You'll notice it. You'll understand the value of it
So if I were you I would just listen to this guy right now and realize that a good name is valuable
A good name is fragile and a good name is worth
Protecting because it's what you want and it's what you need to become an adult. Does that make sense?
That's why I had to have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for these kids Lord. I know they're good kids and
I know they have good names and Lord
I just pray you'd help them to realize the value of their good names and Lord
I pray that you'd help them to realize
How fragile a name is and how fragile a reputation is and it just takes a little folly
It really doesn't take much just a little foolishness to destroy that and it's so hard to build that back up
Lord I just pray you'd help them to protect it
Help them to abstain from evil and to abstain from the appearance of evil
Help them to do right with their lives Lord help them to be young people that are known for
What's true of them that they have character and integrity that they're spiritual that they love you
That they can be trusted and help them to grow up to be adults that
Love you and serve you with their lives in Jesus name we pray. Amen